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Announcing the long-awaited memoir/exploration by internationally famed Ethical Slut author Janet W. Hardy: Girlfag: A Life Told in Sex and Musicals! Girlfags - women who love, are attracted to, and identify with gay men - are a growing community with a growing voice. Girlfags are not fag hags - fag hags enjoy gay men as company; girlfags enjoy them as bedmates and peers. Girlfags are everywhere. Janet notes, "I get much the same reaction when I mention 'girlfags' as I used to when I talked about 'ethical sluts' - a sudden lighting up of the eyes, a giggle, and a startled 'Hey, that's *me*!' And Facebook groups, Yahoo groups, a Wikipedia entry, a Livejournal blog, and a television series called Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys offer signs that The Age of the Girlfag is at hand. Janet's book Girlfag: A Life Told In Sex and Musicals is a memoir, and much more. It visits girlfags past and present (from Pharaoh Hatshepsut through Mary Renault), it meanders through the shifting meanings of gender and orientation, and it spends a whole lot of time at the theater (Janet is not just a girlfag, she's also a showtune queen).

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About the Author

Janet W. Hardy is the author or coauthor of ten groundbreaking books about relationships and sexuality, including The Ethical Slut (nearly 100,000 copies sold to date). She has traveled the world as a speaker and teacher on topics ranging from ethical multipartner relationships to erotic spanking and beyond, and has appeared in documentary films, television shows and radio showst. Janet's writing has appeared in publications as various as The Sondheim Review, Clamor, and EIDOS. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from St. Mary's College of California.

This is a book about dissolution, in all the senses of the word. Lawyers call a divorce a "dissolution, and there's a divorce in here, although a rather anticlimactic one. And some people say you're "dissolute if they think that you're morally not quite up to par, and, well, there's a lot of that in here too, mostly with me at its center. But "dissolution is the noun form of the verb "dissolve. Moviemakers use a "dissolve to transition from one scene to the next, so that they can jump all around their story, sometimes to things that seem irrelevant at the time but that start to make more sense as the movie progresses. And physicists mean "dissolve to mean the softening of edges, the loss of boundaries, the point where the lump of sugar becomes smaller and smaller, and then the sugar is liquid, and then the water is sweet. And that's really what this book is about: dissolving, dissolution, solution. Edges softening, edges disappearing, edges so far gone that you realize they never existed and that you're standing like Wile E Coyote in midair. Don't worry, you'll only fall if you think too much about how you got there in the first place.

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I enjoyed this book immensely! It resonated with me and really helps us to understand how much more we all can be when we allow ourselves to cross the societal boundaries when it comes to gender, sexuality and who we choose for love relationships and connection. I applaud her bold delivery, brutal honesty and the brilliance manifested through this entertaining read. Her bold spirit shines bright and strong in this goddess-free kick ass book from a fearless woman expressing herself in a fresh and exciting way. Bravo!

If you don't know who Janet Hardy is and you consider yourself kinky or identify with an alternative sexuality you need an education. Janet has been a force of information and insight, empowering readers with her own work and the works of others through her editing and publishing careers.

You would barely know that from this memoir however because most of her work as an educator and publisher is brushed over. That is a problem with this book. Hardy spends a decent amount of time on her childhood, teens, young adult life and even her first marriage but the later part of her lift is only covered in bits and pieces.

The musicals are interwoven well though not as much as I expected given the title; the same for the sex but that is part of the book's point -- sex (and gender) is not what you think, it is not what we are taught and told.

The glimpses into Hardy's life created frustrations for me personally. I wanted to know more, a lot more, than what she covers often in very short chapters or sections (ranging from one to six or so pages) especially about how she got into the kink community and became known as an expert and respected publisher -- are those connected to her sexual/gender identity and if not, why not?

I hope she'll consider expanding this a lot if she ever revises it.

You should know that I have been published by Hardy twice and have had numerous conversations with her online and on the telephone but I have not met her face-to-face. I may have higher expectations because of this so please consider that when reading the above review.

In Girlfag: A life told in Sex and Musicals, Janet Hardy is unapologetically herself. Fierce, incisive, and witty, Hardy challenges us to think about gender and sexuality outside of the boxes we've become used to - and perhaps cling to - with candor and tenderness. GirlFag breaks new ground in spirit and thought and is just another well-crafted reason to celebrate, yet again, one of the foremost voices in sexuality, gender, and queer thought.

Girlfag; A life told in Sex and Musicals by Janet Hardy is fun, easy and entertaining to read. It offered me a peek inside the life of a woman who has the courage to be herself and provided me with insight into what it means to be a Girlfag. The following passage describes my reading experience perfectly, "...a softening of edges, the loss of boundaries, the point where the lump of sugar becomes smaller and smaller, and then the sugar is liquid, and the water is sweet".

What a great read. Janet's story is engaging, funny, and poignantly hard hitting at the same time. I loved the style of how the book is presented. Even though it's one, longer story, you could read any short section at random and still be educated and entertained. Janet's story also rang true for me as myself. I could really relate directly, personally and intimately. I would recommend this book to anyone entertained by one or more of the following genres: comedy, biographical, eroticism, self-help, counter-culture and yes... Musicals.Girlfag: A Life Told In Sex and MusicalsGirlfag: A Life Told In Sex and Musicals

This book was truly dreadful. I grudge even giving it a star as I have nothing positive to say about it (but I had to in order to submit it). From start to finish it was highly offensive to LGBTQ people and it didn't seem remotely authentic never mind poignant and funny or well written like other reviews have claimed. It was so bad that when I reluctantly donated it to an LGBTQ library it was unanimously decided by the library staff that the best place for it was in the bin.